Electrical delay arming always impact fuze

ABSTRACT

A fuze, method, and system for arming munitions for low altitude delivery wherein the energy source for arming the fuze is selfcontained within the mechanism and utilized subsequent to release of the munition from the delivery means.

United States Patent Inventors Appl. No. Filed Patented Assignee ELECTRICAL DELAY ARMING ALWAYS IMPACT FUZE [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,498,040 2/1950 Jordan et a1. 102/70.2 X 2,779,284 1/1957 Kane 102/70 2,780,994 2/1957 Bennett 102/70.2 2,939,393 6/1960 Johnson et a1. 102/70 3,048,11 1 8/1962 Baker 102/70 3,151,557 10/1964 Evanofi 102/70 2,853,011 9/1958 Will et al. l02/81.2 X 3,262,387 7/1966 Reams 102/81 X 3,421.442 1/1969 St. Clair 102/81 X Primary Examiner-Samuel Feinberg Assixlan! Examiner-Thomas l-l. Webb Anomeys- Harry M. Saragovitz, Edward .1. Kelly, Herbert Berl and Bernard J. Ohlendorf 11 Claims, 4 Drawing Figs.

[1.8. Ci 102/70.2 R,

102/85.6 ABSTRACT: A fuze, method, and system for arming munilnt. Cl F42c 11/00, tions for 10w altitude delivery wherein the energy source for F42c 15/40, F42c 19/12 arming the fuze is self-contained within the mechanism and Field of Search 102/70, utilized subsequent to release of the munition from the 70.2, 79, 81, 81.2 delivery means.

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INVENTORJ Aaron 5'. Berlin Vince/1r 6. Little ELECTRICAL DELAY ARMING ALWAYS IMPACT FUZE DEDICATORY CLAUSE The invention described herein may be manufactured, used, and licensed by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment to us of any royalty thereon.

Our invention relates to a fuze, method, and system for arming munitions for low altitude delivery.

The prior art fuzes, methods and systems were designed to utilize long arming wires or were of the air arming type such as disclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,737,l 18. Such prior art devices on occasion damaged the aircraft due to the wires which were required, and the prior art devices could not be used for low altitude delivery. Our invention was conceived and reduced to practice to overcome these disadvantages and problems.

A principal object of our invention is to provide a reliable apparatus, system, and method for arming munitions for low level delivery, 50 feet and less.

Another object of our invention is to provide a reliable apparatus, system, and method for arming munitions for low level delivery which is economical, safe to use, and will not cause aircraft damage.

A further object of our invention is to provide a reliable apparatus, system, and method for arming munitions for low level delivery wherein the energy for arming the fuze is selfcontained and utilized subsequent to the release of the munition from the delivery means.

Other objects of our invention will be obvious or will appear from the specification hereinafter set forth.

FIG. 1 is an end view of FIG. 2 of our fuze cut away to show the cam release mechanism.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view ofour fuze.

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary longitudinal sectional view showing the fuze and initiator in a munition. FIG. 4 is a sectional view of the initiator of our fuze.

Our invention as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4 will now be described in detail as follows: Fuze 1, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, and initiator 2, as shown in FIG. 4, are fixedly mounted in munition 3 by any conventional means, such as thread means, as shown in FIG. 3. While FIG. 3 shows connector wires 4 which are either standard type or shielded, depending upon the particular application, leading from the initiator to two fuzes, the initiator can be modified within the skill of the art to connect to any number of fuzes as required. After the fuze and initiator are mounted, the munition is placed onto a rack on the underside of an aircraft, not shown in the drawing, in the conventional manner, such as storing bombs in a bomb bay and/or wings of an aircraft, and lanyard 5 is fixedly connected to the rack. While delivery of a munition from an aircraft is described, our fuze and initiator may be utilized for conventional ground emplacement statically fired projector means such as mortars, cannons, rocket launchers, or any other weapon system having any number of important tactical capabilities. The munition may be utilized to deliver food supplies, medicinal supplies, explosive composition, incendiary composition, marker flares, or any type of incapacitating agent. When the target area is reached, safety pin 6 is manually removed in the manner of a conventional grenade safety pin, and the munition, such as a bomb, is released from the aircraft munition rack by activating the release triggering means, not shown in the drawing, in the conventional manner. Upon munition 3 falling from the aircraft, lanyard 5 is drawn taut and extracts staked cap 7, retained in body 40 by any mechanical means, such as staking, and releases locking pin 8. Release of the locking pin permits ball 9 to be pushed toward closure 10 any conventional closure means such as a threaded plug, etc. to close off chamber 11 after ball 9 has been inserted therein during assembly. Firing pin 13 is then released and strikes a primer, not shown in the drawing, fixedly mounted in the top of conventional thermal battery 14. Striking of the primer ignites a conventional fuze delay within the battery, not shown in the drawing. which in turn activates the battery. The voltage of the battery and amount of time delay for the battery delay fuze is designed within the skill of the art to meet the requirements of each particular application. Battery M is case grounded, and the other battery lead is connected to electrical connector 35 in the conventional manner, such as soldering. Upon activation of battery M, electrical energy is transmitted by means of electrical connector wire 4 to fuze l, as shown in FIG. 3, in the conventional manner to arm the fuze. In particular, the electrical energy is transmitted to a conventional motor bellows 16, as shown in FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows the fuze in the electrically disconnected state having a conventional twist lock dust cap 17 installed. To electrically connect the fuze, dust cap 17 is simply removed and connector wire 4 connected to the fuze electrical input 18 by a conventional twist lock connector attached to the end of wire 4. Loss of cap 17 is avoided by means of chain 19 fixedly attached to the fuze body. Upon supplying electrical energy to bellows 16 through wires 43, any conventional material, for producing gas upon ignition, within the bellows is ignited to produce a quantity of gas which expands bellows l6 and causes piston 20 to move downward as a result of depression of spring 2ll. Downward movement of piston 20 causes half cam 22, having cam notches 23 and M offset at as shown in FIG. 1, to rotate and move cam notch 23 out of locking engagement with arming pin notch 24. The cam disengagement permits arming pin 25 to be released upward as a result of expansion of arming spring 26. Upward release of the arming pin permits balls 27 to fall within capsule 28 and point 29 to rupture foil 30 which is cemented in top 31. Rupture of foil 30, which is visible on viewing top 31 and can be any frangible metal, is a visual indicator that the fuze is armed. Prior to release of balls 27 within capsule 28, the balls are forced outward by pin 25 and retained within an annular ridge in the top of container 32 as shown in FIG. 2. Release of balls 27 permits capsule 28 to float freely within capsule container 32, but free floating detonation of the primer, not shown in the drawing, in primer detonator 33 by strike 34 is avoided by weak spring 35. However, the spring 35 tension is not sufficient to avoid striker 34 activating the primer on impact of fuze l with the target. Flash type detonator 37 is cushioned by annular felt disc 39. On activation of conventional primer detonator 33, flame is transmitted through chamber 36 to ignite conventional flash-type detonator 37. Ignition of flash-type detonator 37 in turn ignites and disperses payload 38, which can be an explosive mix, incendiary mix, marker flare, or any type of incapacitating agent mixed with explosive mix for dissemination as described above. In the case of food or medicinal supplies, a low level explosive charge just sufficient to separate the supplies from the munition is used. Structures 411 and 42 are any conventional sealing means, such as O-ring, used to avoid moisture entering the initiator after assembly.

It is obvious that other modifications can be made of our invention, and we desire our invention to be limited only by the scope of the appended claims.

We claim:

1. An air arming system for delivering a payload within a munition at a low level from an aircraft to a target comprising delivery means; fuze means mounted within said munition; initiator means mounted within said munition; electrical connection means connecting said initiator means and said fuze means; and a means to arm the fuze means, said means to arm being a thermal battery adapted to be activated by a firing pin striking a primer in the top of the battery.

2. The system of claim I wherein the initiator comprises a body means; locking pin means fixedly mounted within said body means, said locking pin means having one end chamfered; a lanyard means having one end connected to said locking pin at the end opposite to the chamfered end and ad jacent to the surface of said body means, the opposite end of said lanyard means being connected to said delivery means, said lanyard means being adapted to activate said initiator means; ball means in contact with said chamfered end and adapted to retain a firing pin means in an unarmed state prior to activation of said initiator means; spring-loaded firing pin means adjacent to said locking pin and adapted to contact said ball means prior to activation of said initiator means; fuze arming means located below said firing pin means and adapted to be activated by the firing pin; and electrical connection means connected to said fuze arming means and adapted to transmit energy to said fuze means.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the locking pin means is staked within the body means.

4. The system of claim 2 wherein the electrical connection means are shielded connectors.

5. The system of claim 2 wherein the initiator means is provided with a safety pin means adapted to avoid premature activation of said initiator means.

6. The system of claim 2 wherein seal means is provided to prevent moisture entering said initiator means, said seal means being located between said initiator means and said delivery means and between said locking pin means and said body means.

7. The system of claim 6 wherein said seal means are rings.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein said fuze and initiator means are mounted within said munition by thread means.

9. The system of claim wherein said fuze means comprises a motor bellows means adapted to be connected to said electrical connection means and adapted to be activated by said fuze arming means; a spring-loaded piston means located below said bellows means and adapted to be activated by the bellows means; a half cam means having one notch in contact with said piston means and a second notch in contact with an arming pin notch, the half cam being adapted to be activated by said piston means; a spring-loaded arming pin means adjacent to said piston means, said arming pin means adapted to force two balls located within a spring-loaded capsule means outward in an annular ridge in a container means for said capsule means, said outward force being adapted to avoid arming the fuze means prior to activating the initiator means; two ball means adapted to be forced outward by said arming pin means against the walls of a capsule container means and to fall within a capsule means upon activation of the arming pin means; capsule means having a striker means fixedly mounted therein, said capsule means being adapted to float freely within a capsule container means upon activation of said arming pin means, said striker means being adapted to detonate a primer means upon impact of said munition; a capsule container means adapted to house said capsule means and to restrain said ball means prior to activation of said arming pin means; primer means located below said striker means and adapted to be detonated upon impact of said munition; chamber means located below said detonator means and connecting said primer means with a flash detonator means; and a flash detonator means adapted to activate and disperse said payload upon activation by the flash detonator means.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the cam notches are offset 11. The system of claim 9 wherein a frangible metal disc is located above said arming pin and visible from outside of said fuze, said disc being adapted to be ruptured by said arming pin upon activation of the arming pin, the ruptured disc being a visual indicator that the fuze is armed. 

1. An air arming system for delivering a payload within a munition at a low level from an aircraft to a target comprising delivery means; fuze means mounted within said munition; initiator means mounted within said munition; electrical connection means connecting said initiator means and said fuze means; and a means to arm the fuze means, said means to arm being a thermal battery adapted to be activated by a firing pin striking a primer in the top of the battery.
 2. The system of claim 1 wherein the initiator comprises a body means; locking pin means fixedly mounted within said body means, said locking pin means having one end chamfered; a lanyard means having one end connected to said locking pin at the end opposite to the chamfered end and adjacent to the surface of said body means, the opposite end of said lanyard means being connected to said delivery means, said lanyard means being adapted to activate said initiator means; ball means in contact with said chamfered end and adapted to retain a firing pin means in an unarmed state prior to activation of said initiator means; spring-loaded firing pin means adjacent to said locking pin and adapted to contact said ball means prior to activation of said initiator means; fuze arming means located below said firing pin means and adapted to be activated by the firing pin; and electrical connection means connected to said fuze arming means and adapted to transmit energy to said fuze means.
 3. The system of claim 2 wherein the locking pin means is staked within the body means.
 4. The system of claim 2 wherein the electrical connection means are shielded connectors.
 5. The system of claim 2 wherein the initiator means is provided with a safety pin means adapted to avoid premature activation of said initiator means.
 6. The system of claim 2 wherein seal means is provided to prevent moisture entering said initiator means, said seal means being located between said initiator means and said delivery means and between said locking pin means and said body means.
 7. The system of claim 6 wherein said seal means are O-rings.
 8. The system of claim 1 wherein said fuze and initiator means are mounted within said munition by thread means.
 9. The system of claim 1 wherein said fuze means comprises a motor bellows means adapted to be connected to said electrical connection means and adapted to be activated by said fuze arming means; a spring-loaded piston means located below said bellows means and adapted to be activated by the bellows means; a half cam means having one notch in contact with said piston means and a second notch in contact with an arming pin notch, the half cam being adapted to be activated by said piston means; a spring-loaded arming pin means adjacent to said piston means, said arming pin means adapted to force two balls located within a spring-loaded capsule means outward in an annular ridge in a container means for said capsule means, said outward force being adapted to avoid arming the fuze means prior to activating the initiator means; two ball means adapted to be forced outward by said arming pin means against the walls of a capsule container means and to fall within a capsule means upon activation of the arming pin means; capsule means having a striker means fixedly mounted therein, said capsule means being adapted to float freely within a capsule container means upon activation of said arming pin means, said striker means being adapted to detonate a primer means upon impact of said munition; a capsule container means adapted to house said capsule means and to restrain said ball means prior to activation of said arming pin means; primer means located below said striker means and adapted to be detonated upon impact of said munition; chamber means located below said detonator means and connecting said primer means with a flash detonator means; and a flash detonator means adapted to activate and disperse said payload upon activation by the flash detonator means.
 10. The system of claim 9 wherein the cam notches are offset 90*.
 11. The system of claim 9 wherein a frangible metal disc is located above said arming pin and visible from outside of said fuze, said disc being adapted to be ruptured by said arming pin upon activation of the arming pin, the ruptured disc being a visual indicator that the fuze is armed. 